Compiled by Arts Fuse Editor

Our expert critics supply a guide to film, visual art, theater, author readings, television, and music. More offerings will be added as they come in.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Boston area theaters have pretty much decided to ignore what is happening in America and beyond — mounting threats to democracy, the slide toward authoritarianism, the climate crisis, growing economic inequality, ICE’s savage round-up of immigrants, the expansion of internment camps, ongoing genocide in Gaza, the grueling war in Ukraine, etc. The American Repertory Theater tells us that “Wonder Awaits.” I disagree. I have decided to spotlight in each Coming Attractions a stage production, in America and elsewhere, that grapples with today’s alarming realities. Sometimes the productions will be available via Zoom, sometimes not. It is important to present evidence that theater artists are reflecting, and reflecting on, the world around us.

7th Annual International Human Rights Art Festival at The Tank, 312 W 36th St., New York, NY, December 8 through 14.

An international art-activist organization, featuring 2000+ artists from 115+ countries, tosses its annual festival: 55 different performances over the course of a week. The topics under theatrical consideration include women’s power, LGBTQIA+, immigration, and human rights. There will be pieces on the climate crisis as well.

“Freedom of expression and ethnic/cultural/economic and religious diversity are fundamental to our work, as is the protection of human rights and social justice. DEI is in our DNA, as we use creativity to build a more equitable world. Over the past six years, we have presented more than 1500 artists at our festivals and interim events throughout NYC. We believe in a world where artists are free to use their creativity to provide an engine for social change, and their work is honored as a human right. We need to come together – now more than ever!”

— Bill Marx

Film

Columbia Rarities
Through December 14
Harvard Film Archives, Cambridge

To celebrate the centennial of Columbia Pictures, the 2024 Locarno Film Festival organized a retrospective of Columbia Studio gems made during the era of the Hollywood studio. The films selected for the HFA series are among the studio’s lesser-known gems and curios. This is a rare selection of edgy and innovative films. Several will have repeat screenings. Arts Fuse feature

A scene from Explanation for Everything. Courtesy of Venice Film Festival

Explanation for Everything
November 23 at 2 p.m.
Brattle Theatre, Cambridge

It’s summer in Budapest. Ábel, a high school senior, should be studying for his final exams — but he’s just realized he’s hopelessly in love with his best friend, Janka. Studious Janka has her own unrequited love with married history teacher Jakab – who had a previous confrontation with Ábel’s conservative father. The tensions of a polarized society come unexpectedly to the surface when Ábel’s history graduation exam turns into a national scandal. Ábel finds himself caught between two worlds, in the thick of it all, still in love. Premiere screening with director Gábor Reisz in attendence.

The Ice Tower
Through November 25
The Brattle Theatre, Cambridge

French auteur Lucile Hadzihalilovic (Innocence, Evolution) won the award for Outstanding Artistic Contribution at this year’s Berlin Film Festival with this phantasmagoric evocation that merges reality, filmmaking, and dreamtime to describe the interweaving fates of two women.

In the early ’70s, teenage runaway Jeanne (Clair Pacini) takes refuge on the soundstage where a cinematic adaptation of the fairy tale “The Snow Queen” is being shot. She quickly falls under the spell of its star, Cristina (Marion Cotillard), an imperious actress in the Garbo/Dietrich mold who is just as mysterious and alluring as the Queen she is playing.

A scene from Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, with Russell Crowe in full swashbuckle.

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
December 1 at 7 p.m.
Coolidge Corner Theatre, Brookline

Big Screen Classics presents Peter Weir’s epic tale set during the Napoleonic Wars loosely adapted from Patrick O’Brian’s 20 completed novels of Jack Aubrey’s naval career. It stars Russell Crowe and received 10 Academy award nominations. Rogert Ebert praised the film, writing that it “achieves the epic without losing sight of the human.”

8 Women (8 Femmes)
December 4 at 7 p.m.
Museum of Fine Arts Boston

The last in the museum’s Cozy Crime series is François Ozon’s musical whodunit that supplies a delirious showcase of female French cinema royalty: Catherine Deneuve, Fanny Ardant, Isabelle Huppert, Emmanuelle Béart, Virginie Ledoyen, and Ludivine Sagnier.

Konrad Wolf: Ways to Enlightenment — streaming through November 30.

The Goethe Institut, in celebration of the 100th birthday of East German filmmaker Konrad Wolf (1925–1982) is offering streaming access — free of charge — to his pioneering, politically daring, and thought-provoking films. A committed anti-fascist of Jewish descent, Wolf vividly and pointedly depicted a generation questioning its role in the Third Reich’s horrors, inviting his viewers — then and today — to consider their own relationship to the historical movements of their time. Link to access to Films

Gore Vidal Goes to the Movies
Harvard Film Archive, Cambridge

Ben-Hur (1959), 2 p.m. on November 29 and 7 p.m. on November 30

Myra Breckinridge (1970), 7 p.m. on December 1

Vidal co-wrote the screenplay for William Wyler’s Ben-Hur and Myra Breckinridge, his gender-bending best-selling novel, served as the inspiration for a movie version that, according to the HFA, is “considered now to be a camp classic with an outrageous cast that includes none other than Mae West … the film and its colorful excesses fail to capture the nuances of Vidal’s original.” Here’s a snippet from Vidal in his highly entertaining 1976 essay, “Who Makes the Movies?”, about working on Ben-Hur: “The plot of Ben-Hur is, basically, absurd and any attempt to make sense of it would destroy the story’s awful integrity.”

Rebecca Hall and Ben Whishaw in Peter Hujar’s Day

Peter Hujar’s Day
Through November 25
Brattle Theatre

Filmmaker Ira Sachs (Love is Strange, Passages) will be on hand for this advance screening of his latest film, a two-hander set in 1974 with Ben Whishaw cast as photographer Peter Hujar. Rebecca Hall plays ‘nonfiction fiction’ author Linda Rosenkrantz, who recorded the activities of her friends in exquisite detail over a single day. According to Sacks: “It’s an extremely rare window into an artist’s circular thinking, which I really relate to. You go from confidence to insecurity, to this hope to that discovery, round and round and round, and you hope that something comes out of that.” Arts Fuse review

Pick of the Week

When We Went MAD! on Amazon Prime

The exhibition What, Me Worry? The Art and Humor of MAD Magazine at the Norman Rockwell Museum last year rekindled my enthusiasm for the magazine’s cutting satire and brilliantly demented illustrations, work that shaped generations of comedians, filmmakers, and artists. Now streaming, When We Went MAD!, offers a lively history of the publication, with testimonials from Judd Apatow, David Zucker, Weird Al Yankovic, Howie Mandel, and many others, all framed by narration and commentary from Bryan Cranston.

The documentary presents interviews past and present with the anarchic publishers and editors who proudly called themselves “The Usual Gang of Idiots.” It showcases the unforgettable humor and visual invention of MAD’s legendary artists—Jack Davis, Don Martin, Dave Berg, Harvey Kurtzman, and Will Elder, among them. The film also traces the evolution of Alfred E. Neuman, the grinning “What, Me Worry?” simpleton who debuted on the cover of issue #30 in 1956 and appeared on every issue thereafter. Norman Mingo shaped the iconic visage, adapting an impish face that had circulated for decades on postcards and in advertisements. Editor Al Feldstein, who oversaw MAD from 1956 to 1985, claimed the name had originally been his own nom de plume when he wrote for the magazine. MAD’s fearless parodies of politics and entertainment across every decade since the ’50s are generously examined. The film also underscores MAD’s crucial role in helping to establish an invaluable legal precedent: that parody, absent malicious intent, is a protected art form.

— Tim Jackson

Television

Stranger Things, Season 5 (November 26, Netflix) Surely one of the most eagerly-awaited seasons of television in a long while. This final season of Stranger Things will include eight episodes, with the first four released in November and the final four at Christmas, laying to rest this successful sci-fi thriller series. What made this show so successful wasn’t just its inventive fantastical elements (and special effects), but the letter-perfect nostalgic setting (early 1980s) complete with great needle drops that cultivated millions of new fans for artists us old folks already loved (like Kate Bush, whose 1985 hit “Running Up that Hill” broke records for digital downloads after it was played repeatedly on the Sony Walkman of a troubled teenage character). Then there are the down-to-earth, small town characters who are full of flaws, but mostly remain very likeable. The fabulous cast includes Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Maya Hawke, and some excellent young actors who were propelled into super stardom (including Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobbie Brown, and Sadie Sink). The performers made this series eminently watchable from the get-go. The preteen kid characters are turning older; it will be interesting to see how that reality is reflected in the finale. At times I wanted the show to rely less on its impressive special effects and huge cosmic monsters and more on its wonderful characters ,who navigate the strange goings on in their small town with moxie, love, and humor. That said, Stranger Things changed the contemporary TV landscape for the better, and I’ve no doubt it will influence it for years to come.

A scene from The Abandons, featuring Lena Headey as Fiona Nolan. Photo: Matthias Clamer/ Netflix

The Abandons (December 4, Netflix) Well, the cast alone excited me about this new Netflix series. The legendary Gillian Anderson, Lena Headey (Game of Thrones), Aisling Franciosi (The Nightingale) —  and even a cameo from Patton Oswalt. If that’s not enough, it’s the first series from Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter since he was fired in 2018 from that series’ spin-off, Mayans M. C. for “questionable behavior” on set.  Yikes. If that’s not enough, this new series is a Western! Set in the 1850s, the narrative features two matriarchs (Headey and Anderson) battling for dominance over the lawless American frontier. Escapism with a touch of ahistorical feminist sensibility? Perhaps, but I’ll take it.

— Peg Aloi

Theater

Laura Latreille and Lee Mikeska Gardner in the Central Square Theater production of Summer, 1976. Photo: Nile Scott Studios.

Summer, 1976 by David Auburn. Directed by Paula Plum. Staged by Central Square Theatre at 450 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, through November 30.

The plot of this two-hander: “1976. An Ohio college town. The second wave of feminism is cresting. Two very different women are thrown together through a faculty babysitting co-op and an unlikely friendship forms between Diana, a fiercely iconoclastic artist, and Alice, a free-spirited yet naive young housewife.” Two fine local actors in the cast — Lee Mikeska Gardner and Laura Latreille. Arts Fuse review

The Nightmare Before Dragmas, inspired by the Tim Burton film. Staged by Eggtooth Productions at the Shea Theatre, 71 Avenue A, Turners Falls, December 5 and 6.

“Mr Drag (aka Joe Dulude II) will host the event (its 9th annual) featuring local talent for an evening of song, dance, and story loosely inspired by The Nightmare Before Christmas, but with Eggtooth’s signature Valley twist. The event is a family friendly (maybe a touch PG13 for some), mildly funky, non-denominational take on the holidays.”

Marianna Gailus as Hedda Gabler in the Yale Rep production of Ibsen’s drama.

Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen. Translated from the Norwegian by Paul Walsh. Directed by James Bundy. At Yale Repertory Theatre, 1120 Chapel Street, New Haven, November 28 through December 20.

Henry James in the New Review on a 1891 production of Hedda Gabler: “Ibsen is various, and Hedda Gabler is probably an ironical pleasantry, the artistic exercise of a mind saturated with the vision of human infirmities; saturated, above all, with a sense of the infinitude, for all its moral savour, of character, finding that an endless romance and a perpetual challenge.”

A Sherlock Carol by Mark Shanahan. Directed by Ilyse Robbins. Staged by the Lyric Stage at 140 Clarendon Street, Boston, through December 21.

The game’s afoot in this theatrical mash-up: “the tales of Sherlock Holmes and A Christmas Carol come together like you’ve never seen before.” Well, I have never seen it before. The plot: “Moriarity is as dead as a doornail. Sherlock Holmes is depressed. Without his number one adversary, what’s the point of it all? Enter a grown-up Tiny Tim and the mysterious death of everyone’s favorite humbug.” The cast includes Leigh Barrett, Christopher Chew, Mark Linehan, Paul Melendy, Michelle Moran, and Jon Vellante.

A scene from ‘TWAS the Night Before…Photo: Brandon Todd, MSG Entertainment, Kyle Flubacker, MSG Entertainment & Errisson Lawrence

‘TWAS the Night Before…, Cirque du Soleil’s first holiday show, based on the classic poem “A Visit from Saint Nicolas” by Clement Clarke Moore. Staged by Cirque du Soleil at the Boch Center Wang Theatre, November 26 through 29.

“It’s the holidays, and this year, things are different. For years, Isabella and her father have read ‘A Visit from Saint Nicholas’ together. But this year Isabella feels like she’s outgrown the family tradition. But then the magic of the poem comes to life, and Isabella and her father are unexpectedly separated by a snowstorm that sends them on a fantastical journey.” Recommended for All Ages

Beethoven by Valeri​y Pecheykin. Directed by Yana Gladkikh. Lighting Design by Tyson Miller. Composed by Sarah Infini Takagi. Staged by Arlekin Company at 368 Hillside Ave., Needham, December 4 through 7.

“This special project imaginatively​ and playfully inhabits memories and scenes ​from Beethoven’s life, offering a vivid portrait of one of history’s greatest composers. As he endures deafness, isolation, and poverty, Beethoven’s unshakable faith in music and humanity becomes a source of redemption and transcendence. ​What do we hear when the world falls silent? For Beethoven, the answer is extraordinary music—​a declaration of resistance in bleak times. His suffering does not destroy him; instead, he transforms it into art.” With live music featuring Beethoven’s compositions, as well as original music composed and performed by Boston’s Sarah Infini Takagi, this studio production will be performed in Russian​.

Ins Choi and Esther Chung in Kim’s Convenience. A Soulpepper Production in association with American Conservatory Theater & Adam Blanshay Productions. Photo: Dahlia Katz

Kim’s Convenience by Ins Choi. Directed by Weyni Mengesha. A Soulpepper Production in association with American Conservatory Theater & Adam Blanshay Productions, presented by the Huntington Theatre Company at The Huntington Calderwood, at the Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont Street, Boston, through November 30.

According to the HTC press release, this “comedy drama about a Korean family-run corner store that inspired the popular Netflix hit is a feel-good ode to generations of immigrants who have made Canada the country that it is today. Mr. Kim works hard to support his wife and children with his Toronto convenience store. As he evaluates his future, he faces both a changing neighborhood landscape and the gap between his values and those of his Canada-born children.” What about American hostility? FYI, according to a recent column in the Toronto Star: “During Prime Minister Mark Carney’s meeting last week with Donald Trump, the U.S. president said, ‘The people of Canada will love us again. Most of them still do, I think — they love us.’ Most people in Canada do not love the United States. They never have and never will.” Arts Fuse review

Fun Home Music by Jeanine Tesori, Book & Lyrics by Lisa Kron. Based on the graphic novel by Alison Bechdel Directed by Logan Ellis. Staged by the Huntington Theatre Company at the Huntington Theatre (264 Huntington Ave), Boston, through December 14.

A revival of the 2015 hit musical that won five Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Score, and Best Book. From the Arts Fuse review of the 2018 production of the show:

“It made perfect sense for self-described lesbian cartoonist Alison Bechdel—author of the long-running comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For—to use the form of the graphic novel for her 2006 memoir Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic. That critically acclaimed, bestselling book told—and showed—in searing, honest detail the story of Bechdel’s growing up as the daughter of a closeted gay father and distant mother in a small Pennsylvania town.

The crux of the tale is the death—a probable suicide—of Bechdel’s father, Bruce, and how it entwined, in her mind, with acknowledging her own homosexuality a few months before his death. Bechdel’s writing is lyrical, sharply funny, filled with literary allusions and discussions with her father, a high-school English teacher who moonlighted as director of the family-owned funeral home—the “Fun Home” of the title—but whose true love was meticulously restoring their ornate, Gothic-style house. And her drawings brilliantly animate her memories, down to the smallest detail (a box of Crayola crayons; The Rifleman, Yogi Bear, and other TV shows she and her brothers watched, for example).”

A scene from Tanglewood Marionettes’s Hansel and Gretel. Photo: Puppet Showcase Theatre

Hansel and Gretel staged by Tanglewood Marionettes, November 28 through 30. The Trolls and the Tree: An Environmental Fable staged by Margaret Moody Puppets, December 6 and 7. Both shows presented by the Puppet Showcase Theatre, 32 Station Street, Brookline.

The theater invites “audiences to celebrate the holiday season with a festive lineup of puppet shows. From Thanksgiving through New Year’s, the theater’s stage will come alive with fairy tales, seasonal stories, and interactive sing-alongs sure to delight audiences of all ages.”

“Over Thanksgiving weekend, Tanglewood Marionettes brings storybook classics Hansel and Gretel and Sleeping Beauty to life with lushly painted backdrops and expertly crafted marionettes. Margaret Moody Puppets shares The Trolls and the Tree: An Environmental Fable, a gentle tale about caring for nature and living in harmony with one’s neighbors.”

— Bill Marx

Visual Art

Unidentified artist, bed cover (detail), Chinese, about 1970s. Cotton and synthetics, hand-sewn patchwork. Photo: MFA

According to Chinese legend, they were inspired by the ragged, patched robes worn by Buddhist and Daoist monks in order to project humility. But the brilliantly-colored, richly-patterned patchwork textiles in One Hundred Stitches, One Hundred Villages: The Beauty of Patchwork from Rural China, opening at the Museum of Fine Arts on December 6, have practical uses of their own: to keep out the cold as bed and window coverings, as door curtains dividing rooms and providing privacy, and as children’s clothing. The title of the show seems to grossly underestimate both the amount of labor involved and the many places where making patchwork remains a long-established visual tradition, unique to each village. The almost 20 textiles in the show, the museum says, come “from the Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong, Gansu, and Shaanxi provinces” and “reveal a wide variety of compositions, patterns, and techniques, which reflect local styles and individual aesthetics alike.”

Despite their aesthetic value, these textiles are rarely seen outside the small places where they were created. MFA curator Nancy Berliner traveled to many places in northern China to collect the textiles and to interview their creators or their descendants. Photographer Lois Connor went with her, documenting the artists and the places they live in still images and video. In the exhibition, these contemporary visual records help visitors “explore the historical impacts on materials and designs, and discover the personal histories and artistic intuitions behind the works.”

In his upcoming show at MassMOCA, Zora J. Murff’s photographs, collages, and, for the first time, installation pieces will show, the museum says, “that the pursuit of liberation is, in part, a struggle against a desire for what merely looks like liberation.” Murff’s work is intended to probe how systems of domination, especially state violence, work together and are normalized and made invisible in everyday life. His photographs include portraits, the active life of cities, and “shots of playful light.” Zora J. Murff: Race/Hustle opens on December 6.

A photo of the victim of an acid attack in Izabella Demavlys: Without A Face. Photo: Griffin Museum of Photography

Three exhibitions open at the Griffin Museum of Photography on December 5. Izabella Demavlys: Without A Face charts the journey of a former fashion designer as she traveled from New York to Pakistan to meet and photograph victims of acid attacks in order “to delve into the concept of beauty and its social and cultural implications” while “engaging with women whose beauty transcends their scars, skin disorders, age, or struggles.” Demavlys is the 2025 recipient of the Grffin’s Richards Family Prize.

The Griffin’s Winter Solstice Members Exhibition 2025 and Arnold Newman Prize Winner and Finalists also open on December 5 at the museum’s Winchester headquarters.

In recognition of the 2025 World Health Organization’s World AIDS Day and Visual AIDS’ Day With(out) Art on December 1, the Yale Art Gallery will screen the legendary avant garde filmmaker Derek Jarman’s final film, Blue (1993) at 5:30 p.m., followed by a reception and a screening of Visual AIDS’ Meet Us Where We’re At at 6 p.m.. Both are free and open to the public. The activist group Visual AIDS organized the first Day Without Art in 1989 to “celebrate the lives and achievements of lost colleagues and friends; encourage caring for all people with AIDS; educating diverse publics about HIV infection; and finding a cure.” On its tenth iteration in 1998, the event became Day With(out) Art “to highlight the ongoing inclusion of art projects focused on the AIDS pandemic, and to encourage programming of artists living with HIV.”

On December 4 at 4:30 p.m., the Bowdoin College Museum of Art presents “From Fauna to Flora: Merging with Plants in Early Imperial Rome” with Dr. Sophie Crawford Brown. Organized in conjunction with the current Bowdoin exhibition Flora et Fauna: Nature in Ancient Mediterranean Art and Culture, the talk will focus on Dr. Brown’s research on the prominent plant imagery in Roman art of the late Republic and early Empire and its cultural meanings. Free and open to the public.

Pondering art school? Consider attending Mass College of Art and Design’s Admissions Undergraduate Open House on December 6. Aimed at prospective students, the event includes student-led campus tours, a Portfolio & Application Workshop for preparing a standout application to the school, and a limited number of in-person portfolio reviews from admissions counselors. Two sessions: 9 a.m. to noon and 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., both of them free. Register on the MassMOCA website.

— Peter Walsh

Classical Music

Blessed Cecilia
Presented by Boston Cecilia
December 5 at 7:30 p.m. and 7 at 3 p.m.
Church of the Advent (Friday) and All Saint’s Parish (Sunday)

Boston Cecilia celebrates its 150^th anniversary season—as well as its namesake—with a St. Cecilia-themed concert featuring music by Benjamin Britten, Francis Poulenc, Herbert Howells, and Daniel Pinkham. Michael Barrett conducts.

Sing We Noel
Presented by Boston Camerata
December 7, 4 p.m.
Old South Church

Boston Camerata’s holiday program traces Christmas music from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance and early America.

— Jonathan Blumhofer

Rock, Indie, and Alternative

The Lemonheads are back. Photo: Gareth Jones

The Lemonheads with Erin Rae
November 26 (doors at 7/show at 8)
The Wilbur, Boston

After a mere 19 years, Evan Dando is back with a new collection of original Lemonheads material. Among his guests on Love Chant are local beloveds J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.), John Felice (The Real Kids), John Strohm (Blake Babies), and former Lemonhead and Blake Baby Juliana Hatfield. Also contributing are Nashville singer-songwriter Erin Rae, Nick Saloman of The Bevis Frond, Adam Green of The Moldy Peaches, and frequent Dando collaborator Tom Morgan. Among my picks for highlights are the misleadingly titled “58 Second Song,” “Deep End,” “In the Margin,” “Togetherness Is All I’m After,” and “Love Chant.” And don’t miss Evan Dando’s new memoir, Rumors of My Demise. (Here is the interview that he kindly did with me.)

Phoebe Rings with Greg Davis and Jake Mandell
November 30 (doors at 7/show at 8)
Deep Cuts, Medford

Phoebe Rings will do a warm-up headlining gig in front of a small crowd ahead of two shows as a warm-up act before a much larger one. The self-described “dream pop” quartet will assume the top spot at Medford’s Deep Cuts in advance standing in the gaze of a throng of enthusiast Beths fans at Boston’s Royale. Like their fellow Aucklanders, Phoebe Rings is fronted by a female singer-songwriter and comprises former jazz students. Their debut LP, Aseurai, appeared in June and followed up their eponymous 2024 EP. Burlington, VT’s Greg Davis and Boston’s Jake Mandell will open.

The Beths with Phoebe Rings
December 1 and 2 (doors at 7/show at 8; latter show is sold-out)
Royale, Boston

I never tired of telling people that The Beths were my favorite new band when I heard their debut, Future Me Hates Me, in 2018. To this day, I tell anyone who is willing to listen that they are my favorite band of the past 10 years. (Hopefully I’ve made a few converts along the way.) I have covered the band in various forms, including reviewing their 2021 live album and interviewing lead singer, songwriter, and guitarist Liz Stokes. This year’s Straight Line Was a Lie has done nothing to dampen my affection for them. The title track, “No Joy,” “Metal,” “Mother, Pray for Me,” “Til My Heart Stops,” and “Take” each evince classic Liz Stokes sublimity and will fit in perfectly among her countless other such examples in their December 1 and 2 setlists at Royale.

Autoheart with Wild Party
December 2 (doors at 7/show at 8)
Arts at the Armory, Somerville

This London-based trio’s new album is their first since 2021’s Hellbent, and their fourth overall. Like each of its previous LPs, the band issued Heartlands on its own label, O/R Records. Guitarist Barney JC says of the record, “Maybe it’s a kind of imagined queer refuge – a place of psychological escape where people like us can find each other.” Having never heard of them before, I must say that I am properly impressed by the first three singles: “Sad Divide,” “Baby Bird,” and “Indigo Chateau,” the last of which is the album’s magnificently catchy and invigorating lead off track. And there is plenty to please old and new fans among Heartland’s remaining seven inclusions, which – like the aforementioned singles – teem with ample portions of rhythm, heart, and pensiveness.

Big Special with Viruette
December 8 (doors at 7/show at 8)
The Rockwell, Somerville

After causing a big splash with last May’s Postindustrial Hometown Blues, Big Special has wasted no time in delivering its follow-up. National Average arrived on July 4 of this year, a mere 14 months after its predecessor. With this quick turnaround, the UK duo has both maintained their momentum and picked up speed. Their speak-singing post-punk is reminiscent of Sleaford Mods, so it makes sense that they were featured on the latter duo’s recent single, “The Good Life.” Their distinct English accents and use of British-isms (e.g., “gaff,” “barmy,” “fiver,”” “bins,” “blimey”) will certainly appeal to American anglophiles, but that is by no means the extent of their allure. Big Special’s upcoming US tour is limited to seven shows, and Somerville’s Rockwell has the good fortune of hosting one of their two headlining gigs.

— Blake Maddux

Roots and World Music

Haitian singer Rutshelle Guillaume will perform at the Oceanside Event Center this week.

Klass with Zile/Anie Alerte
Nov. 27
Oceanside Event Center, Revere

While the rest of the music industry mostly takes Thanksgiving off, it’s the busiest weekend of the year for Haitian bands here in the diaspora. This night of kompas features two of the best: The versatile band Klass, and the outstanding vocalist Anie Alerte and her band Zile. Another popular and important female Haitian singer, Rutshelle Guillaume, celebrates the release of her new album at the same venue on Nov. 29.

Théo Ould
Dec. 2
Longy’s Edward M. Pickman Hall

Can Théo Ould make the accordion cool again? The answer seems to be yes because the French musician has combined classical virtuosity with social media savvy. For his Celebrity Series debut, Ould is playing solo and is pairing a series of pieces by the nuevo tango master Astor Piazzolla with works by classical as well as contemporary composers. The show sold out weeks ago, but a few extra tickets had just been added at press time.

Béla Fleck & the Flecktones
Dec. 6
Boch Center Shubert Theater

Béla Fleck became one of the country’s most recognized banjo players when he launched his jazz-funk fusion band the Flecktones in the ’90s. His many ongoing projects has meant that the band rarely performs anymore, but the original lineup is getting together for its first holiday tour in 15 years. Fleck will be joined by electronic percussionist Future Man, harmonica and piano player Howard Levy, and bassist Victor Wooten, who recently announced that he has had to relearn his instrument after being diagnosed with focal dystonia. Making this outing extra special will be the presence of Tuvan throat singers in Alash.

Ryan Davis and the Roadhouse Band 
Dec. 7
Deep Cuts, Medford

The world of country-adjacent music is full of proud, weirdo lyricists, but few are as distinctive as Ryan Davis. His tales of Gothic America sport a one-of-a-kind sonic signature; they often surpass the nine-minute mark, propelled by swirling pedal steel with abrasive electronic beats. Davis is based on the Kentucky/Indiana border, but he came to these parts to record his sophomore LP New Threats From the Soul at Magnets with Machines in Pawtucket, and now he’s coming back with his Roadhouse band and Western Mass-based opener Animal Piss, It’s Everywhere.

Garnet Rogers
Dec. 7, 5 p.m.
Club Passim

New England folk audiences have had a love affair with the Canadian singer/songwriter ever since he started coming to the area with his late brother Stan. Lately, Rogers has been suggesting that, thanks to increased visa fees, his US touring days are likely numbered, so it’s worth taking advantage of this opportunity to hear his gorgeous baritone and rich storytelling

— Noah Schaffer

Jazz

Jazz Composers Alliance Orchestra-Mini
November 23 at 4:45 p.m.
Lilypad, Cambridge, Mass.

JCA’s Orchestra-Mini is a 10-piece ensemble created from the personnel of the full orchestra. The Mini will present “a new collection of original extended jazz compositions by JCA resident composers Darrell Katz, Bob Pilkington, David Harris, and Mimi Rabson.” The JCA Orchestra-Mini goes for “the feel of chamber jazz but the energy of the full jazz orchestra.” Expect the usual JCAO enlivening presentation of varied material.

Pianist and composer Kevin Harris. Photo: courtesy of the artist

Kevin Harris
December 3 at 7:30 p.m.
Regattabar, Cambridge, Mass.

The fine Lexington, Ky.-born, Boston-based pianist and composer Kevin Harris fronts a trio with the esteemed veteran bassist Rufus Reid and drummer Neil Smith in a program called Vitruvian Echoes, “drawing inspiration both from Da Vinci’s insights and from the often under-recognized contributions of artists whose work exemplifies originality and human expression.”

Claudio Ragazzi Quartet
December 4 at 6 p.m.
Long Live Roxbury Brewery & Taproom
FREE

The distinguished Grammy- and Emmy-winning Argentine-born guitarist, composer, and educator Claudio Ragazzi holds down this edition of the free Thursday night series at Long Live Roxbury with keyboardist Zahili Zamora, bassist Gerson Lazo Quiroga, and drummer Steve Langone.

Elan Mehler
December 4 at 7:30 p.m.
Regattabar, Cambridge, Mass.

The enterprising pianist, composer, and record label boss (Newvelle Records) celebrates the release of his 12^th album, Renee Said, with a superb band: tenor saxophones George Garzone and Scott Robinson, alto saxophonist Loren Stillman, bassist Max Ridley, and drummer Dor Herskovits.

Pianist Cyrus Chesnut. Photo: courtesy of the artist

Cyrus Chestnut Quartet
December 5 at 7 p.m.
Scullers Jazz Club, Boston

The protean powerhouse pianist Cyrus Chestnut, now 62, cut his teeth with the likes of Donald Harrison, Wynton Marsalis, and Betty Carter, and his side interests have included a cover of Bread’s “If” as well as a full album (with early running partner James Carter) of songs by the indie-rock gods Pavement. He comes to Scullers with bassist Herman Burney and drummer Kelton Norris.

Ron Carter
December 5-6 at 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.
Regattabar, Cambridge, Mass.
SOLD OUT

Master bassist Ron Carter, now 88, returns to the Regattabar for four sold-out shows with saxophonist Jimmy Greene, pianist Renee Rosnes, and drummer Payton Crossley. You could hang out, hold up a finger, and hope for no-shows.

Trombonist Steve Davis. Photo: courtesy of the artist

Steve Davis Quintet
December 6 at 7 p.m.
Scullers Jazz Club, Boston

An early endorsement from mentor Jackie McLean earned trombonist Steve Davis a longstanding gig with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and eventual accolades from other bosses Freddie Hubbard and Chick Corea. After many albums under his own leadership, Davis brings his post-bop back to Scullers with alto saxophonist Mike DiRubbo, pianist Rick Germanson, bassist Nat Reeves, and drummer Willie Jones III.

Devon Gates plays (and sings) with the collective band Zambra in the Mandorla Music Dot Jazz series. Photo: courtesy of the artist

Zambra
December 6 at 8 p.m.
Peabody Hall, Parish of All Saints, Dorchester, Mass.

You’ve possibly seen some of the players from Zambra in other configurations around Boston (they hail from the interconnected communities of Harvard, New England Conservatory, Brown, and Berklee’s Global Jazz Institute and Jazz and Gender Institute). Their varied heritage includes Andalusia, New York City, Atlanta, Catalonia, and Tehran, and their arrangements “bridge flamenco, Persian classical, Indian, Catalonian, and jazz traditions” in a mix of traditional melodies and original compositions. The players include bassist Devon Gates, cellist Queralt Giralt Soler, guitarist Ria Modak, violinist Ángela Varo Moreno, and oud player Bahar Badiei. They all sing. The show is part of the Mandorla Music Dot Jazz Series, presented with Greater Ashmont Main Street.

Melissa Kassel-Tom Zicarelli Group
December 7 at 6:30 p.m.
Lilypad, Cambridge, Mass.

The long-running Kassel-Zicarelli Group — featuring the assured risk-taking and warmth of singer Kassel and the compositions of pianist Zicarelli, as well as standards — makes its regular stop at the Lilypad with saxophonist Bill Jones, bassist Bruce Gertz, and drummer Gary Fieldman. The band combines crafty songwriting with occasional free-form improv.

Mr Sun Plays Ellington’s Nutcracker
December 7 at 7 p.m.
Groton Hill Music Center, Groton, Mass.

The Ellington band’s interpretation of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite has been equally revered among jazz and classical heads. Not long ago, the bluegrass-folk-roots supergroup Mr Sun took on Billy Strayhorn’s Nutcracker score for Ellington, coming up with a quartet version, which was eventually expanded for auxiliary string ensemble, leaving plenty of room for fresh improvisation as well as transcriptions of the original recorded solos by the likes of Johnny Hodges and Lawrence Brown. The core Mr Sun quartet — fiddler Darol Anger, mandolinist Joe K. Walsh, guitarist Grant Gordy, and bassist Aidan O’Donnell — bring their touring Nutcracker production to Groton Hill, with “additional regional string players to re-create a full orchestra of sound.”

— Jon Garelick

Author Events

Anthony M. Amore with Kelly Horan at Brookline Booksmith
The Rembrandt Heist
November 24 at 7 p.m.
Tickets are free or $35.97 with book

“Filled with unforgettable personalities and non-stop action and intrigue, Anthony M. Amore’s The Rembrandt Heist will lay out the anatomy of this notorious art theft while describing not just the criminal genius that is Myles Connor, but also the complexity of personal relationships between lifelong friends. All along, the reader will learn about a breathtaking painting by the world’s most famous artist and the incredible true story about how Portrait of Elsbeth van Rijn ended up on the wall at the MFA in the first place.”

PSB’s One Year-Anniversary at Porter Square Books
November 29, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Cambridge Edition, 1815 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA
Free

“Celebrate our One-Year Anniversary at 1815 Mass Ave. and Indies First on Saturday, November 29. We’ll be running a slideshow of the past year with events, bestsellers, and other memories (a “Wrapped” for our first year here!), while an amazing cast of local authors gives out book recommendations in a friendly competition. Then join us at 5:30 p.m. for a toast and cake, followed by a presentation of fantastic holiday gifts from PSB Libromancers.

Since it’s also Small Business Saturday, we’ve partnered with Cambridge Naturals and Henry Bear’s Park. Bring a receipt and coupon from Porter Square Books to either (or both!) of those stores and get 10% off your purchase. Or see them first and bring your receipt to us to get 10% off your purchase with us.”

Carla Kaplan at Harvard Book Store
Troublemaker: The Fierce, Unruly Life of Jessica Mitford
December 1 at 7 p.m.
Free

“Who could predict that a British aristocrat would so energize American antifascist and civil rights struggles that Time magazine would crown her “Queen of the Muckrakers”? Jessica Mitford, always known as Decca, was brought up by an eccentric English family to marry well and reproduce her wealth and privilege, not to advocate for the rights of others. Her beautiful sisters have been subjects of books and movies dedicated to their naughty, glamorous lives.

Decca ran away to America to forge a rebel’s life. As this richly researched book details, Decca broke the Mitford mold. Instead of settling for life as a professional Beauty, she fought fascism in the Spanish Civil War, became an American Communist and pioneered witty, hugely popular journalism, including her 1963 blockbuster The American Way of Death. Decca dedicated her life to social justice and proved herself an immensely effective ally, but she also injected laughter into all her political work, annoying some activists with her relentless antics but encouraging many others to find joy in the struggle.

From famed baby doctor Benjamin Spock to best friend Maya Angelou, her anti-authoritarian irreverence had a profound impact on American culture. Mining extensive, untapped sources, and with nearly fifty new interviews, Kaplan’s passionate biography beautifully illuminates how Decca’s hard-won and self-taught social empathy offers a powerful example of female freedom, the dramatic, novelistic story of an extraordinary woman of her time who is remarkably relevant and resonant today.”

Matthew Pearl in conversation with Kevin Birmingham at Porter Square Books
The Award 
December 2 at 7 p.m.
Cambridge Edition, 1815 Massachusetts Avenue
Free

“With the wit and psychological wisdom of The Plot and The Winner, The Award is a timely, razor-sharp, and unputdownable novel about writing groups, publishing, ambition, human foibles, and the dangerous things we will do to get ahead.

“The Award begins as a wryly funny satire of thwarted literary ambition, but it quickly evolves into something darker and more disturbing. Matthew Pearl’s addictive and propulsive novel has the twisted nightmare logic of a Patricia Highsmith thriller.'” — Tom Perrotta, New York Times bestselling author of Tracy Flick Can’t Win and Mrs. Fletcher

An Evening of Henry David Thoreau: Kristen Case and Lewis Hyde at Brookline Booksmith
Henry David Thoreau’s Kalendar and The Essays of Henry David Thoreau
December 3 at 7 p.m.
Tickets are free or $41.64 with book

“In the last years of his life, Henry David Thoreau created something new. Part blueprint for a major new work, part scientific chart, and part re-envisioning of the way we experience the passage of time, Thoreau’s Kalendar was more a tool than a text. Comprised of six multipage charts of “general phenomena,” the Kalendar was an instrument for recording not just natural and weather-related phenomena, but also the hidden relations among them–between the skies of one June and the skies of past and future Junes–relations we often feel but can’t quite hold, rooted as we typically are in our own brief moment of linear time.

Combining reproductions of Thoreau’s hand-drawn charts with transcriptions of the Kalendar‘s text and essays by acclaimed poet and scholar Kristen Case, this gorgeously crafted volume illuminates the final project of one of America’s most treasured writers and naturalists and offers a timeless, transformative vision of how to live harmoniously with the living world around us.”

Moustafa Bayoumi with Ebrahim Moosa at Brookline Booksmith
How Does It Feel To Be a Problem?: Being Young and Arab in America
December 4 at 5:30 p.m.
Free

“Just over a century ago, W.E.B. Du Bois posed a probing question in his classic The Souls of Black Folk: How does it feel to be a problem? Now, Moustafa Bayoumi asks the same about America’s new “problem”-Arab- and Muslim-Americans. Bayoumi takes readers into the lives of seven twenty-somethings living in Brooklyn, home to the largest Arab-American population in the United States. He moves beyond stereotypes and clichés to reveal their often unseen struggles, from being subjected to government surveillance to the indignities of workplace discrimination. Through it all, these young people persevere through triumphs and setbacks as they help weave the tapestry of a new society that is, at its heart, purely American.”

Janet Lewis Saidi and Alexandra Socarides in conversation with Deidre Lynch at Harvard Book Store
Jane Austen: The Original Romance Novelist
December 5 at 7 p.m.
Free

A huzzah to the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth. The evening will feature Janet Lewis Saidi—creator of The Austen Connection, a public-humanities and journalism project that connects Austen’s literature to the pop-culture and current events of our world today—and Alexandra Socarides—Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Emerson College, where she is a Professor of Writing, Literature, and Publishing. The focus will be Saidi’s Jane Austen: The Original Romance Novelist, “a beautifully curated book that is both an inspiring biography and a celebration of literary brilliance. They will be joined in conversation by Deidre Lynch—Ernest Bernbaum Professor of English Literature at Harvard University.”

— Matt Hanson